On This Date in Sports September 25, 1929: Miller Huggins Dies
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
The New York Yankees and the rest of the baseball world, are shocked and saddened by the passing of longtime Manager Miller Huggins at the age of 51. The Yankees skipper had fallen ill, in the closing days of the season. The illness would lead to a fatal case of pyemia. The Yankees were in the middle of the game with the Boston Red Sox when they got the news of Huggins’ passing.
Miller Huggins was born on March 27, 1878, in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the University of Cincinnati, Huggins was team captain, while studying to be a lawyer. After graduating one of his professors, William Taft advised him to pursue a career in baseball. Huggins, a middle infielder, was just 5’6” but was very quick on the bases, and slick with the glove. He began his career with the hometown Cincinnati Reds in 1904 after spending several seasons in the minor leagues.
In 1910, Miller Huggins was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he would later become player-manager. While with the Cardinals, he helped develop Rogers Hornsby, who would replace him in the lineup at second base, and become one of the greatest hitters of the 20th century with a career average of .358. Following the 1917 season, Huggins was not retained by the Cardinals as his contract expired, having retired from playing a year earlier. He would not be out of work long, as the New York Yankees hired him in 1918.
The hiring of Huggins was not popular among the upper management of the New York Yankees. The Yankees were still trying to find their identity in 1918 as they shared the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants. The Yankees had moved from Baltimore in 1903, first playing as the New York Highlanders, but often got lost in the shadow of the two more successful teams in the National League. Colonel Jacob Ruppert favored Huggins to take over, due to his knowledge on and off the field. While his business partner Cap Houston was so angered that he sold his half of the team. The Yankees showed improvement in Huggins first two years at the helm, rising out of the second division to become a contender for the first time.
Things changed for Miller Huggins and the Yankees in 1920 when they purchased the contract of Babe Ruth form the Boston Red Sox. After winning 95 games and falling three games short in 1920, the Yankees spurred by the bat of Ruth won their first pennant in 1921. The popularity of the Babe led to the Yankees being evicted by the Giants at the Polo Grounds. They responded by building a stadium of their own in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium opened in 1923, with the Yankees winning a third straight pennant. That year they finally won the World Series as they beat the Giants who had won the previous two Fall Classics.
While Babe Ruth was changing the game and changing the Yankees fortunes, he often clashed with Miller Huggins. In 1925, with the Yankees in the middle of a lost season, Huggins suspended the Yankees star slugger. Ruth had hoped that Jacob Ruppert would rescind the suspension, but instead the Yankees owner back the team manager. Eventually, the bombastic Babe apologized to the Yankee manager and returned to the lineup.
The suspension of Babe Ruth, by Miller Huggins, led to the star slugger taking the game more seriously and getting into better shape for the 1926 season. This would begin another stretch of three straight pennants for the Yankees. This included the 1927 team that earned the nickname Murder’s Row, as Babe Ruth hit a record 60 home runs, while Lou Gehrig batted .375 with 47 home runs and 175 RBI. The Yankees would win 110 games in 1927 and won their second straight World Series, repeating in 1928.
The New York Yankees, reign atop the American League, came to an end in 1929, as they finished a distant second behind Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics team. That year the Yankees became the first team to wear numbers on the back of their uniforms. Ruth and Gehrig both continued their monster numbers, but the A’s by winning 104 games took the league by storm on the way to winning World Series.
As the Athletics began to salt away the pennant in August, Miller Huggins the Yankees diminutive manager began to feel ill. Huggins health began to deteriorate at the end of August as he was noticeably losing weight. On September 15th, he was unable to manage the team due to a painful rash on his face. The Yankees were managed that day by Coach Art Fletcher as they split a doubleheader with the Cleveland Indians. The following day Huggins checked into St. Vincent’s Hospital as he was diagnosed with erysipelas, a bacterial skin condition. Over the next week, Huggins’ condition got worse, as he developed influenza with a high fever. Doctors began desperate measures to save Miller Huggins, as he was given a blood transfusion. Their efforts would go in vain, as Huggins died on the afternoon of September 25th. The infection had spread through his body, causing a fatal condition known as pyemia to all of his organs.
While Miller Huggins was in the hospital, Art Fletcher continued to lead the Yankees as they closed out a series with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Entering the day the Yankees were in second place, 16 games out of first with a record of 85-62. In the fifth inning, the Yankees received a telegram with the sad news, that Huggins had passed. Several players were clearly emotional as they were seen crying in the dugout at Fenway Park. Seeing the Yankees distraught on the bench, the game was halted by the umpires, as both teams were called on to the field, with a moment of silence held in honor of the Yankees late manager. The game would continue, with the Yankees winning 11-10 in 11 innings.
Two days later, the American League canceled all games in honor of Miller Huggins’ funeral, which was held at Yankee Stadium. In 12-years of Miller Huggins as manager, the Yankees compiled a record of 1,067-719, winning six pennants and three World Series. Art Fletcher would finish the season at the helm as the Yankees finished the season a week later with a record of 88-66. Fletcher would turn down the job as Bob Shawkey managed the team in 1930, before Joe McCarthy came in 1931, and started his own winning tradition.
The Yankees would honor Miller Huggins in 1929, by placing a stone monument in center field next to the flagpole. It was the first such monument unveiled at the ballpark in the Bronx, beginning a Yankee tradition that would later become Monument Park. Huggins would be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964, by the Veteran’s Committee.